Leadership Simulations
Predict Leadership Readiness Before It’s Tested on the Job
Most leadership decisions are made without clear evidence of future success—resulting in costly promotion and succession planning mistakes.
DDI’s leadership simulations provide objective behavioral data by showing how leaders actually respond to realistic business challenges. You gain a clear, unbiased view of readiness, along with strengths and gaps across your pipeline, so you can prepare the high-potential leaders your organization depends on.
Backed by decades of research, DDI was the first to use simulations to predict managerial performance—and continues to deliver the predictive validity organizations need for high-stakes talent decisions.
From insights to action
Reduce Promotion Risk with the Right Data
High performance doesn’t guarantee success at the next level. That’s where perception-based tools like 360s or 9-box grids fall short.
Leadership simulations evaluate how leaders will perform in target roles, giving you an accurate, objective picture of readiness and how to prepare them before they’re expected to execute under pressure.
When it comes down to a few candidates for critical roles, simulation data helps you make fair, confident decisions while identifying strengths and gaps for a successful transition.
Accelerate High-Potential Development
High-potential employees need more than broad development. They need stretch experiences that address their unique strengths and gaps to help them build momentum.
Leadership simulations place them in realistic business challenges, collecting behavioral data that reveals exactly where they need to grow to succeed beyond their role. That insight allows you to target individual development and group programs to accelerate readiness and strengthen your pipeline.
Protect Assessment Integrity in the Age of AI
Our built-in proctoring safeguards help ensure assessments reflect each participant’s own leadership capabilities—not AI-generated responses. Full-screen requirements, embedded reference materials, and alerts for behaviors such as leaving the assessment or pasting content help protect fairness, validity, and integrity of your assessment results.
This 'let me try' approach to distilling feedback about performance allows leaders and their managers to gain intelligence and pass informed judgment about just how ready they are to lead successfully—today, tomorrow, and further into the future.
Brandon Hall Group
Leadership Readiness Assessments Built for Real Decisions
Our simulations combine decades of research with realistic, “day-in-the-life” scenarios to reliably predict on-the-job performance. By capturing how leaders respond to real business challenges, you get validated data to assess readiness and focus development for critical roles.
Have a Question?
Frequently Asked Questions About Leadership Simulations
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What are leadership simulations?
Leadership simulations are immersive, scenario-based assessments that place leaders in realistic business challenges. By capturing how they respond, simulations provide objective data on leadership readiness—helping organizations evaluate how leaders are likely to perform in a future role before making promotion decisions.
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How are leadership simulations different from 360 feedback?
Leadership simulations assess readiness for a future role using objective behavioral data. In contrast, 360 feedback reflects others’ perceptions of a leader’s performance in their current role. Because simulations evaluate real-time behavior in role-specific scenarios, they are more reliable for predicting future success.
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How do leadership simulations assess leadership readiness?
Leadership simulations assess readiness by observing how leaders respond to realistic, role-specific scenarios. These exercises reveal critical behaviors—such as decision-making, influencing, and communication—while also incorporating factors like attributes and experience to provide a reliable view of readiness.
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When should organizations use leadership simulations?
Organizations use leadership simulations to support high-stakes promotion and development decisions. They are especially valuable before selecting or promoting leaders, helping reduce risk, improve decision confidence, and ease transitions with development. Simulations also help accelerate readiness for high-potential leaders preparing for future roles.
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How does DDI protect assessment integrity as AI use becomes more common?
DDI uses built-in proctoring and Assessment Integrity Safeguards to help ensure virtual leadership simulations measure each participant’s own behaviors and skills—not AI-generated responses. Participants must remain in full-screen mode, access reference materials within the assessment, and receive alerts if they leave the assessment or attempt to paste content. These safeguards deter unauthorized AI use and help protect the fairness, validity, and integrity of assessment results.
